The SVP National Meeting in York

I thought if I set off at 6am in the morning the roads would be quiet – wrong! The A23, M23 and M25 were as full off traffic as during normal working hours. However, there were no breakdowns or accidents and by midday I was parked at the University of York.

York University is a ‘plate-glass’ university - as opposed to the earlier ‘red brick’ universities – and was established in the mid-1960s. Its strong focus on research and its outstanding teaching reputation led to it joining the Russell Group a couple of years back. There were few signs of student life as we made our way to our rooms; it was still vacation time and, apart from the foraging ducks and geese, the campus was largely deserted. Heslington West campus, where our meeting was held, is beautifully landscaped, its man-made lake (the largest plastic-bottomed lake in Europe), slightly rippled, reflecting the blue sky and the striking half-octagonal Central Hall.

The biennial meeting of the Saint Vincent de Paul (SVP) Society for England & Wales, with the motto ‘Called to Serve’, attracted about 230 attendees for each of the two days. It began at 1.00pm with a welcome from National President Adrian Abel, followed by the traditional SVP prayers and the first keynote address on ‘The key role of civil society in Catholic Social Teaching’ by Clifford Longley, the famous author, broadcaster and journalist. As might be expected, it was erudite, well researched, quite enlightening...although somewhat dense at times. The auditorium got increasingly stuffy and remained so for the following 24 hours – until someone found the air conditioning controls!

Next up were Ann Coleman and Kieran Knights to talk recruitment and showcase the recruiting package ‘Strive for Growth’ that will be delivered to more than 1,000 Conferences throughout England & Wales in the next couple of weeks.

The next speaker, Claz Gomez, National Young Vincentian Coordinator, lived up to her reputation as dynamic and spirit-filled. In her first six months she has achieved a huge amount for Minnie Vinnies and Youth SVP (now split into Youth and B-Attitude categories) and, if she only had the time, I’m sure she would set the Group 1833s (students and young workers) alight too! Sadly, she is virtually a one-woman-band. (That is one of the drawbacks of the SVP; funding is very scarce and central administration is run on an extremely miserly budget; I know there is a need to balance spending on administration with supporting the needy but unless we invest more in central support and infrastructure, we will miss many opportunities to reach people).

Ann Harris OBE, Senior VP of the SVP, was visibly (and audibly) suffering from flu or a bad head cold but she soldiered on and gave a most informative and useful presentation on the subject of Health Checks for Conferences. A former head teacher and education consultant, she pulled some tricks out of her satchel and had us doing groupwork for much of the time while she rested and dosed herself - clever.

A most welcome guest was Dr Michael Thio, SVP International President, responsible for SVP operations in 150 countries, involving 800,000 members helping 30 million poor people around the world. He gave a talk on the Vincentian Family (FamVin), which includes those organisations that share the charism of St Vincent de Paul, such as the Daughters of Charity and the Congregation of the Mission. When one questioner at the end expressed amazement at Dr Thio’s frantic schedule – including an annual meeting with the Pope – and asked ‘how do you do it?’ Dr Thio attributed his stamina to the influence of the Holy Spirit – and confessed that he also serves on the boards of seven other charities in his native Singapore in his spare time!

The second day, Saturday, should have begun with a Holy Hour at 7am then a Walking Rosary at 7.30am followed by breakfast at 8am. However, I made the mistake of walking 400 yards in the pouring rain to carry my suitcase to the car park and, on returning to my room, had to take off my soaking trousers to dry them on the radiator. I was suitably attired by breakfast though - and devoured fried egg, scrambled egg, bacon, sausage, baked beans, mushrooms and black pudding...ah well, it doesn’t happen more than once a year.

Saturday’s keynote address was ‘Compassion and prophetic witness’ delivered by John Battle, politician and social activist, former Minister of State and Privy Counsellor. A spellbinding speaker, forthright, fuelled by righteous anger at discrimination and injustice, replete with interesting and sometimes heartrending stories - and with a great gift of mimicry -  John had the meeting straining to hear his every word. The thunderous and prolonged applause at the end was a tribute to both the presentation and the character of the speaker. It was no surprise to hear that he was a long-standing member of the SVP.

Three SVP members then spoke on different groups of people who are being helped: dementia sufferers; asylum seekers; and those without enough to eat. If anyone ever had doubts about the value of the work that the SVP does, just listening to these members for five minutes would dissolve their doubts. It struck me that two of the speakers were not practiced or experienced public speakers, their presentations seemed a slight ordeal for them - however, their passion, their obvious experience and credibility, their caring natures, their inventiveness when faced by officialdom and their determination to overcome obstacles in order to help the needy told their stories admirably.

Community Support Projects was the topic for the CSP team and in 45 minutes they described the work of the SVP’s two supported accommodation buildings; two approved premises; two advice and support centres; eight furniture stores and 42 shops. These activities employ about 200 staff and 470 volunteers. Obviously there was so much to describe that the community shops were the subject of a separate breakout session. The overall impression was of invaluable and wonderfully caring support being given to people who desperately needed it. Again, a great feel-good moment and a reminder that the volunteers throughout the SVP are very unique and special people.

Because the CSP presentation overran, and lunch could not be hurried, the next presentation on Twinnage was rushed and reduced from 45 to about 30 minutes. The SVP helps fellow conferences in India (1534 conferences), Grenada (31), Guyana (15), Romania (33) and the Sudan (148), providing them with financial and prayer support each year. The financial support enables the overseas conferences to do things like feed starving babies and infants;  build water wells, health clinics and homes for the street homeless; provide training for nurses, plumbers, electricians and a variety of trades; launch small businesses for women etc etc. The need is overwhelming – 4.5 million displaced by war in the Sudan alone – but the SVP is doing what it can. Another feel-good moment.

Elizabeth Palmer

National President Adrian Abel and Chief Executive Officer Elizabeth Palmer shared the last formal session, an overview of the work of the Society and the headquarters’ contribution. Elizabeth shared the relevant data and Adrian gave the key messages.

I am quite familiar with the statistics of the SVP and had expected this session to be rather dry. I was wrong. Both Elizabeth and Adrian spoke with passion and unearthed a few statistics I was unfamiliar with; for example, the average age of members is 68 and it has not changed over the last five years; for example, the number of staff of National Office is only 18 FTE – and with that, they manage the activity of 10,000 members.

Adria Abel

There was also much detailed analysis of financials, membership data, attrition, support to international Conferences and much more. There was also two underlying themes that kept recurring: the need to grow the membership through recruitment, and the need to ensure that all compliance requirements – particularly reporting ones - were adhered to by members, including the timely submission of secretarial and financial returns.

Then it was the final session, a Q&A when the trustees of the society answered questions from members. The day ended with Mass in the dining room celebrated by Bishop Terrence Drainey, Bishop of Middlesbrough.

A summary of the two days?  Inspiring, educational, moving, enjoyable and a real validation of the reasons why I joined the SVP just over five years ago.